


in the interim

by whichlights



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Gen, just fillin in some gaps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-12 22:45:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16004858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whichlights/pseuds/whichlights
Summary: Gren makes a friend in prison.





	in the interim

**Author's Note:**

  * For [umbreeonic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/umbreeonic/gifts).



Gren was okay with silence. He liked silence. His commander was completely silent. He’d learned to appreciate the beauty and strength of silence.

He wasn’t okay with being alone. He didn’t like being chained up and alone, just for daring to try to do his job the way Amaya had instructed him, and it was dark, and damp, and cold, and there were creepy shapes in the corners, and Viren was a dark mage, and.

He just really didn’t like being alone.

\---

Viren came out of the other cell one day, and Gren asked, “Wait, who’s in there?”

He’d heard voices, for the first time. He wasn’t alone in here. But he’d called out a bunch for someone else as a joke, and hadn’t gotten an answer.

“The elven assassin that murdered our king,” Viren responded as he ascended the stairs. Gren tried to stretch and look into the other cell, but he couldn’t see the other prisoner. 

“Hello? I know you’re there.” 

Silence. 

“What’s your name?”

Silence.

“I’m Gren,” he continued. “I’m a Commander, and I didn’t do anything wrong. Viren is just selfish, and wanted his own kids in charge of a mission to rescue the princes. Even though General Amaya wanted  _ me _ in charge.”

Silence.

Gren paused. “I know you can talk. I heard you respond to Viren, very softly. What’d you say?”

Silence.

“It’s okay if you’re not very talkative,” he finally said. “Some people aren’t. And I bet talking to Viren is done more out of survival than desire for contact with another person.”

Silence.

“Would you tell me your name, at least? Oh, and are you actually an elf? I don’t doubt Viren would make that up to tease me.”

Silence.

“I’m going to call you Joe,” Gren decided. “Is that okay?”

Silence.

“You know, Joe, I think we’re going to get along.”

\---

“Joe, do you want to sing a song? It’s a bar tune I picked up somewhere, and I think you might like it.”

Silence. Gren was used to it at this point.

He cleared his throat. “Ooooh, the sun, the moon, the stars, the sky, the earth, the ocean blue, none of them compare at all, none compare to you. Your smile’s warmer than the sun, your hair brighter than the moon. Your eyes outshine the stars, all the magics in the world wish they could live up to you.”

Silence.

“I don’t remember the second verse very well. Want to help me make one up?”

Silence. 

“Do you know the song, Joe? Is it just a human song, or is it an elven one too? Oh, do you know any Elvish songs? I bet they’re really nice.”

Silence. 

“Alright, I’m going to make up a second verse. Feel free to join in with suggestions at any time, Joe.”

He never did join in. He never even spoke. But knowing he was there alleviated the loneliness and that was enough. 

\---

“-And  _ then _ Prince Callum got stuck in a snowman! He was running so fast he couldn’t even see it, and he just ran straight into it! It was hilarious, really, but you can’t ever tell him I said that. You would never do that, right Joe?”

Good ol’ Joe silence. 

Gren smiled to himself at the happy memory. That had been a good winter, years ago, with the bright snow and a happy family he felt he was almost a part of, sometimes. 

“I bet you have some good stories too, Joe. Maybe one day you’ll tell them to me. Just one? Pretty please?”

Silence.

“Alright. Now, I’m going to tell you about how Ezran got his pet glow toad, Bait. What happened was-”

\---

It was the dead of the night, and Gren was startled awake by a soft voice. 

“Runaan.”

Gren didn’t recognize the voice. He sleepily looked around, before-

“Runaan?” He asked. “That’s your name?”

Silence.

“I’m Gren,” he said.

“I know.”

\---

“Hey, why does Viren care about some weird thing he wants you to describe?”

Silence.

Gren paused. “You seemed kind of scared of something, though.”

“I don’t fear anything.”

Sometimes, Runaan would speak, very short sentences. Gren liked them. They gave him better insight into his new friend. At least, he liked to think they were friends.

“No, of course not. But like… anything? Not even death?”

“I am already dead.”

“Dude, that’s creepy.”

Silence.

“Don’t you have people to go back to? People who would be sad if you died?”

Gren almost called it silence, but there was just a very long pause before Runaan said, “Yes. He would be sad.”

\---

Gren heard Runaan’s screaming and couldn’t say a word. His vocal cords had frozen up, it felt, and he couldn’t imagine anything to say.

When Viren came out, looking  _ cursed _ , and held up a coin, and went on a spiel about expressions… Gren knew Viren was a dark mage.

\---

Silence.

Gren didn’t like the silence very much anymore. 

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is witchlightsands and i Would die for runaan


End file.
